Runaway Ralph
By Beverly Cleary and Jacqueline Rogers
4/5
()
About this ebook
Newbery Medal-winning author Beverly Cleary ramps up the humor and adventure in the second book in the Ralph S. Mouse trilogy.
With a motorcycle to rev and the open road to see, Ralph S. Mouse is itching to run away from his overprotective family! But once he escapes to a summer campground nearby, the horrors of the wild make him doubt his plan. Angry cats, scary watchdogs, and grouchy gophers are only the half of it...
But then he befriends Garf, a sad and friendless boy at the camp. Though he wants desperately to be back home with his relatives, Ralph realizes that he may need to help Garf before he can help himself.
Runaway Ralph is perfect for independent reading or for shared reading at home or in a classroom. This fun story is the second of a trilogy, along with The Mouse and the Motorcycle and Ralph S. Mouse, all inspired by the author's hope to create appealing books for boys and girls—and by the sight of her son playing with toy cars.
Beverly Cleary
Beverly Cleary is one of America's most beloved authors. As a child, she struggled with reading and writing. But by third grade, after spending much time in her public library in Portland, Oregon, she found her skills had greatly improved. Before long, her school librarian was saying that she should write children's books when she grew up. Instead she became a librarian. When a young boy asked her, ""Where are the books about kids like us?"" she remembered her teacher's encouragement and was inspired to write the books she'd longed to read but couldn't find when she was younger. She based her funny stories on her own neighborhood experiences and the sort of children she knew. And so, the Klickitat Street gang was born! Mrs. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, presented to her in recognition of her lasting contribution to children's literature. Dear Mr. Henshaw won the Newbery Medal, and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and Ramona and Her Father have been named Newbery Honor Books. Her characters, including Beezus and Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ralph, the motorcycle-riding mouse, have delighted children for generations.
Read more from Beverly Cleary
Socks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear Mr. Henshaw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Girl from Yamhill: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Otis Spofford Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ellen Tebbits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emily's Runaway Imagination Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fifteen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mitch and Amy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sister of the Bride Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Luckiest Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jean and Johnny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beaver and Wally Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Strider Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Runaway Ralph
Titles in the series (3)
The Mouse and the Motorcycle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Runaway Ralph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ralph S. Mouse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related ebooks
Ralph S. Mouse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Socks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ribsy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry and Ribsy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mouse and the Motorcycle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry and the Clubhouse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry Huggins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry and Beezus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry and the Paper Route Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Otis Spofford Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ramona Quimby, Age 8 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beezus and Ramona Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ramona's World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ellen Tebbits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ramona the Brave Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ramona and Her Father Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ramona and Her Mother Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ramona the Pest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emily's Runaway Imagination Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Strider Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ramona Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mitch and Amy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Girl from Yamhill: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear Mr. Henshaw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Saturdays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sister of the Bride Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jean and Johnny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Runaway Ralph
328 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Such cute little stories in this series. Easy for my son & I to enjoy. Looking forward to reading the 3rd installment.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In my opinion the most exciting, engaging, and universally loved Beverly Cleary book of them all. It is the only book of its kind where kids sit still, pay attention, and are genuinely disappointed when the bell rings to end class. What is not to love about a lovable young mouse, that is tired of his hum-drum life, setting out on an adventure on a red motorcycle to find quarter from family, repetition, and those ever present parental expectations that make this little mouse so easy to relate to at any age?
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My boys loved the first book a lot and they always liked hearing about Ralph's encounters, but the excitement wore down a quarter through on this one. The kids in this one weren't as likable as they were in the first and that may have been why this one ended without any immediate requests for the next one.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5runaway ralph was a great book.i would recomend it to someone who likes fiction.i did not want to stop reading.i like her books. this one was great.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's a mouse, his motorcycle, and his world of enlightenment and cat dodging--not to be missed when the rodents of life start gnawing away at your soul. Make sure your helmet is made out of a ping pong ball.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In this sequel to The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Ralph runs away from the hotel. He is fed up with the adults scolding him to be more responsible and his cousins pestering him for rides. When his mom forces him to give rides to the little mice, and declares that he will have to make it a nightly habit, he has had enough. One of the guests at the hotel is a boy, Garf, headed to camp. Ralph has seen many of these campers over the years, and he discovers that the sweet bugle notes that he hears every night emanate from the same Happy Acres Camp. Envisioning a life filled with careless kids who drop plenty of food to eat, Ralph makes his escape. The road to the camp is filled with perils, but Ralph bravely endures. Once he reaches Happy Acres, though, his dream of an idyllic life is shattered. The watch dog tries to keep him out, a pack of cats nearly eat him, and he is eventually caught by Garf and held captive in a mouse cage in the art room. Now Ralph knows that living on his own is not the wonderful paradise he thought it would be, and he longs to return to home. After befriending Garf, and using a little smart planning, Ralph might just be able to work everything out after all.Another classic kid book that I never read when I was younger. I can see the appeal for children, with cute talking mice and wily cats. For some reason, I was a bit uninterested in the beginning of the story. I do like Ralph, but I wasn't too invested in his getaway. I was certain he would be fine, so none of the dangers threatening him caused me much tension, and I only became more engaged when the story included Garf and his difficulties. I was much more anxious to find out if Garf could make friends and clear his name, and the story was a faster read for me after those plot elements were introduced. Throughout the book, though, I was amused at how much like an adolescent Ralph is, and was glad to see that he learned some lessons and matured by the end of the book. The story is perfect for young kids, with a good message and a lot of fun adventure, and is a pleasant read for older persons, as well.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I loved this book as a kid, and am amazed how well my garage sale copy held up! My youngest picked it off the shelf for our family reading time as we are in between series.
It was unfortunate timing, as we had just put out poison because over a month of live traps had not cured our mouse infestation. But the book was as fun and as charming as I remember, and left me feeling very guilty when my son begged me to go back to the live traps and pleaded to keep one as a pet. Alas, the poison did its job.
Cleary's writing is far from brilliant, but her storytelling is superb. She breathes life into her characters and now I have a bit more insight into why I don't like cats, I feel guilty for putting out poison to kill mice, and I always dreamed of going to summer camp! Still loved it after all these years! - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Such cute little stories in this series. Easy for my son & I to enjoy. Looking forward to reading the 3rd installment.
Book preview
Runaway Ralph - Beverly Cleary
1
RALPH HEARS A DISTANT BUGLE
The small brown mouse named Ralph who was hiding under the grandfather clock did not have much longer to wait before he could ride his motorcycle. The clock had struck eight already, and then eight thirty.
Ralph was the only mouse in the Mountain View Inn, a run-down hotel in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, who owned a motorcycle. It was a mouse-sized red motorcycle, a present from a boy named Keith who had been a guest in Room 215 over the Fourth of July weekend. Ralph was proud of his motorcycle, but his brothers and sisters said he was selfish.
I am not,
said Ralph. Keith gave the motorcycle to me.
That evening, while Ralph waited under the clock and watched the television set across the lobby, a man and a woman followed by a medium-sized boy walked into the hotel. They had the rumpled look of people who had driven many miles that day. The boy was wearing jeans, cowboy boots, and a white T-shirt with the words Happy Acres Camp stenciled across the front.
Ralph observed the boy with interest. He was the right kind of boy, a boy sure to like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Since the day Keith had left the hotel, Ralph had longed for crumbs of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
A grating, grinding noise came from the works of the grandfather clock. Ralph clapped his paws over his ears. The clock grumbled and groaned and managed to strike the hour. Nine o’clock! The time almost had come. The stroke of nine was followed by the slow sad notes of music that lingered and died mysteriously in the distance every night at this time.
Did you hear that?
the man asked the boy. It was the bugle at camp playing taps.
So that’s what that music is, thought Ralph, who had puzzled over those notes all summer.
When the boy did not answer, his mother said, Come on, Garf, cheer up. You’re going to have a lot of fun at camp.
Maybe,
answered Garf, but I doubt it.
The father looked annoyed. You won’t have any fun if you take that attitude,
he said, and went to the desk to inquire about a room with an extra cot for the night.
Ralph could not understand the boy’s behavior. He had often heard other young guests wearing the same kind of white T-shirt speak of a place called camp, but unlike this boy they always sounded eager and excited about going there. Ralph did not know exactly what a camp was, but since medium-sized boys and girls went there, he thought it must be a place where people ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
The desk clerk summoned old Matt, the elderly bellboy and hotel handyman, to show the family to their room. As Matt picked up their suitcases and led the way to the elevator, he said to Garf, Well, young fellow, what are you going to have for breakfast tomorrow? Apple pie or chocolate cake?
Matt, who was not always popular with parents, was always liked by children.
The boy smiled faintly at Matt’s joke as he followed the old man into the elevator. What that boy needs is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, thought Ralph.
When Matt returned to the lobby, Ralph watched him go out onto the hotel porch, where he stood for a few minutes among the empty rocking chairs for his nightly look at the stars before he retired for the night. The night clerk, a college student hired for the summer, came on duty and settled down on a couch to read a thick book. Ralph’s time almost had come. Sure enough, the clerk read a few pages and then lay down on the couch with the book facedown on his chest and closed his eyes.
Ralph was free for the night! He darted under the television set, where he had hidden his motorcycle and the crash helmet that Keith had made from half a Ping-Pong ball lined with thistledown. He already had polished the chrome on his motorcycle by licking his paws and rubbing them over the dull spots. Now he set his crash helmet on his head, snapped the rubber band under his chin to hold it in place, and taking care to keep his tail out of the spokes, mounted his motorcycle. Next he inhaled deeply and exhaling with a pb-pb-b-b-b sound, the only sound that will make a miniature motorcycle go, sped out from under the television set and across the carpet.
Pb-pb-b-b-b! Ralph rode across the lobby and into the hall. Up and down the hall zoomed Ralph, and the joy of speed made up for the long hours of hiding in dusty corners waiting for night to come.
Up and down the hall rode Ralph until he was too tired to take another big breath. Then he parked his motorcycle in a shadowy corner, hung his crash helmet on the handlebars, and flattening himself, slipped under a door into his favorite room in the inn. It was a stuffy room, never very light even in daytime, and locked when the last person left it at night. It was furnished with small tables and a row of high stools. The room was Ralph’s favorite because he always could find peanuts on the floor, sometimes popcorn, and once in a great while a stuffed olive. Tonight he gobbled his fill of peanuts, wishing he had a little grape jelly to go with them, and managed, in spite of being somewhat fatter than when he had entered, to squeeze out again.
Pb-pb-b-b-b. Daredevil Ralph rode perilously close to the dangling hand of the night clerk sleeping on the couch before he tore the length of the hall. Ralph was exhilarated by speed, danger, and his own daring. Pb-pb-b-b-b! Back to the lobby!
As Ralph paused to take another deep breath his sharp ears caught the approaching squeaks of his little brothers and sisters and cousins, who rarely ventured into the lobby because they were afraid of the stuffed deer heads on the walls and the stuffed owl on the mantelpiece of the stone fireplace. Drat!
swore Ralph softly to himself. Ralph was in the process of taking a deep breath, so he could make a fast getaway, when his mother and Uncle Lester scurried from under a chair in front of him. Ralph’s deep breath came out in a poof, and his motorcycle stopped.
Ralph,
said Uncle Lester, it is time we had a talk.
Ralph did not answer. He did not want to talk. Neither did he want to listen, but he knew that he could not avoid his uncle’s lecture. He only hoped it would end before the little mice managed to get down the stairs.
You can’t go on living like this,
said Uncle Lester, running around the lobby, watching television all day, and tearing around on that motorcycle all night.
Yes,
agreed Ralph’s mother, a most fearful mouse whose whiskers trembled constantly with fright. She was afraid of people, vacuum cleaners, owls, cats, traps, and poisoned grain. She quivered at the slightest sound.
Ralph stared at the carpet.
Look at you,
said Uncle Lester. Lint all over your whiskers.
Ralph brushed at his whiskers with one paw.
"And you’re getting fat from eating peanuts you pick up in that—that place, continued Uncle Lester.
A bar is no place for a young mouse."
You will fall in with evil companions,
said his mother. They will lead you into trouble.
Nobody can lead me anyplace,
said Ralph, because I can go faster on my bike.
By now the little brothers and sisters and cousins had gathered to listen, wide-eyed with interest and pleasure.
One cousin, braver than the rest, said, He thinks he’s big, calling a motorcycle a bike.
"Ralph, you are sure to break your neck if you